Party Girls Spark Premature Ageing Epidemic

A party lifestyle may keep you young at heart but according to the latest research it won't do the same for your face. In fact the implication is that hanging up your party shoes could be the key to looking youthful.

The study indicates that unhealthy lifestyles are fuelling a premature ageing epidemic with the average woman looking more than four years older than her actual age.

According to a poll of 8,000 women over 25, unhealthy habits such as smoking, drinking, eating junk food, using sun beds and poor skincare, are making women look old before their time.

A quarter of the women who took part in the poll, by collagen replacement treatment, Sculptra, spend 10 minutes a day (that's two and a half days a year) worrying about ageing.

The research was not based on scientific skin analysis but rather what age the participants felt they looked.

It revealed that women in the North East are ageing the fastest, feeling that they look an average of six years older than their real age. So it's perhaps not that surprising that they are also the biggest culprits when it comes to breaking the beauty bible's cardinal sins: they smoke and drink the most, use sun beds and a third regularly go out in the sun without wearing any protection.

One in five of the women surveyed admitted that they don't use moisturiser while 40 would opt for plastic surgery and 6% would fancy a makeover to help them shave off the years.

Do you think you look older or younger tahn your actual age? Leave a comment in the box below and tell us your thoughts.